The initial version of the website for the Epic of Old is now online. You can find it here: https://talesofold.wixsite.com/epic-of-old
It is still a work in progress overall. Some of the pictures will need to be updated when I complete them (like the world map), and some of the text will likely need to be edited, especially if I change a synopsis for one of the books. There are also no links to any ebook distributors since the books are not published yet. I suspect all of these updates will be complete by next month.
Editing for the last three books is practically done. I've also gotten some feedback from beta readers for the first book and made some good changes. The chapters have been reorganized a bit so that the poetry is not so jarring by making sure it is at the beginning or end of a chapter. Naturally, this cannot always be the case, especially for the other stories, but it is better. There were also two sections where dialogue was turned into poetry and I turned it into normal dialog. This was when Helskor encounters Solomon in the beginning and when Helskor and Rhinesvelt meet at the end of the book. Doing that alone appears to improve the look of the book considerably.
For book 2, I still want to add a scene near the end with Frederik. In book 3, I need to increase the length of Philos's encounter with Helskor and I also want to write a new scene with Nezbaerth and Cyfel meeting up in the world of dreams. This would be a good way to further reduce the narration in one section while also showing natural progression of the characters. The setting should also prove interesting.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Sunday, September 3, 2017
Personal edits are done
I spent most of the day on further editing, writing a new scene and checking off items I had wanted to address in books 3 and 6. I am waiting to get some feedback for the last book as well as the first two, but all of the items I had wanted to change have been adjusted. The main task now is formatting. I'm still having trouble adjusting how the pictures are represented in the MOBI file. Heck, adding them correctly was a big enough problem. Point is, they shrink in size when being uploaded, so there is some kind of parameter or option I need to fiddle with.
There is also a spacing issue in some areas where it will look like I indented a paragraph twice instead of once even though it looks fine in the Word document. Either I need to comb through the demo version of each draft on Amazon, or I have to figure out a way to show where these spacing issues are turning up. I've dealt with this before years ago and I'll deal with it again.
Finally, I had a change in titles. The Planet of Whispering strife will become The World of Whispering Strife. Likewise, The Architect of Celestial Sight will now become The Surveyor of Celestial Sight. Both of these changes appear to make the titles easier to say, which is likely more important than my individual preference. I also thought about changing book 2 to The Astral Architect, but I thought it better to have the name style similar to the first story, especially since the first two books function as the same story told through differing perspectives.
I might even change the title of the sixth book as well, even though it relates to the ending of the story. The Promise of Tomorrow just doesn't seem to communicate a strong message on its own, nor does it seem to match the theme of the cover I made. Something like The Final Judgement, or New Exodus, or The Days of Tomorrow seem to paint a better picture. Seems I still have some thinking to do.
There is also a spacing issue in some areas where it will look like I indented a paragraph twice instead of once even though it looks fine in the Word document. Either I need to comb through the demo version of each draft on Amazon, or I have to figure out a way to show where these spacing issues are turning up. I've dealt with this before years ago and I'll deal with it again.
Finally, I had a change in titles. The Planet of Whispering strife will become The World of Whispering Strife. Likewise, The Architect of Celestial Sight will now become The Surveyor of Celestial Sight. Both of these changes appear to make the titles easier to say, which is likely more important than my individual preference. I also thought about changing book 2 to The Astral Architect, but I thought it better to have the name style similar to the first story, especially since the first two books function as the same story told through differing perspectives.
I might even change the title of the sixth book as well, even though it relates to the ending of the story. The Promise of Tomorrow just doesn't seem to communicate a strong message on its own, nor does it seem to match the theme of the cover I made. Something like The Final Judgement, or New Exodus, or The Days of Tomorrow seem to paint a better picture. Seems I still have some thinking to do.
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Maps are Complete
I planned to add maps to three books in the Epic of Old series, and now that is finally done. There is still considerable work to be done on the complete world map if I want that to be displayed in any of the books or a possible website I am thinking of putting together. Two continents are only half complete, and Morthanis in particular has not been adjusted at all since I decided to quadruple the number of cells/blocks used to build the map. However, all I needed to do to start work on the map pictures was to finish the coastline since the interior details would be reinterpreted with inked versions of forests, mountains, and even state lines.
Skiven and Aglodon were completed in all their detail, and Hendvlask (with its now simplified spelling) was completed enough to draw a political map of the area. With this, locations should more or less be understood. Instead of remaining a vague idea, the continent will more closely resemble a real place. The maps are also all different in style, with the map of Skiven appearing in book three and the map of Aglodon appearing in book five. It is also good to remember that there is a simple world map on the cover of book four.
As of this moment, I should be done making pictures for the series. Most of the books have three to five pictures now, providing more context for certain scenes and places. It is possible that some of these will be edited or I might make a few more at the spur of the moment. These additions evolved in an organic fashion, so there is no telling if there is more to come. However, there is a good chance that I will eventually design a website, which means I will likely add a few pictures specifically for it. As of now, I am tweaking a few of the stories by making slight alterations to dialogue, which will hint at a few things I want to communicate to the reader. The last book might require one new scene, but only if I can produce the content needed to fill the setting. The same goes for the second book, though I'm looking to get a few more beta readers to figure out if such is even necessary. Lastly, I'm looking into other forms of book marketing, such as creating a mailing list. I will add the details to the blog once I have it all figured out.
Now, getting back onto the topic at hand, this is the current (incomplete) world map I am working with:
And this is the map of Hendvlask that I just finished:
Skiven and Aglodon were completed in all their detail, and Hendvlask (with its now simplified spelling) was completed enough to draw a political map of the area. With this, locations should more or less be understood. Instead of remaining a vague idea, the continent will more closely resemble a real place. The maps are also all different in style, with the map of Skiven appearing in book three and the map of Aglodon appearing in book five. It is also good to remember that there is a simple world map on the cover of book four.
As of this moment, I should be done making pictures for the series. Most of the books have three to five pictures now, providing more context for certain scenes and places. It is possible that some of these will be edited or I might make a few more at the spur of the moment. These additions evolved in an organic fashion, so there is no telling if there is more to come. However, there is a good chance that I will eventually design a website, which means I will likely add a few pictures specifically for it. As of now, I am tweaking a few of the stories by making slight alterations to dialogue, which will hint at a few things I want to communicate to the reader. The last book might require one new scene, but only if I can produce the content needed to fill the setting. The same goes for the second book, though I'm looking to get a few more beta readers to figure out if such is even necessary. Lastly, I'm looking into other forms of book marketing, such as creating a mailing list. I will add the details to the blog once I have it all figured out.
Now, getting back onto the topic at hand, this is the current (incomplete) world map I am working with:
And this is the map of Hendvlask that I just finished:
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